William Penn

Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.

Kings in this should imitate God, their mercy should be above their works.

Death then, being the way and condition of life, we cannot love to live if we cannot bear to die.

We are apt to love praise, but not deserve it. But if we would deserve it, we must love virtue more than that.

Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery.

It is admirable to consider how many Millions of People come into, and go out of the World, Ignorant of themselves, and of the World they have lived in.

Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.

Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Moms. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.

The egoism which enters into our theories does not affect their sincerity; rather, the more our egoism is satisfied, the more robust is our belief.

If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

Language is the dress of thought.

A crank is someone with a new idea – until it catches on.

Better a broken promise than none at all.

That which we call character is a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means. It is conceived of as a certain undemonstrable force, a familiar or genius, by whose impulses the man is guided, but whose counsels he cannot impart.

Leave this hypocritical prating about the masses. Masses are rude, lame, unmade, pernicious in their demands and influence, and need not to be flattered, but to be schooled. I wish not to concede anything to them, but to tame, drill, divide, and break them up, and draw individuals out of them.

Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.

In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.

We know there is intention and purpose in the universe, because there is intention and purpose in us.

What is the most rigorous law of our being? Growth. No smallest atom of our moral, mental, or physical structure can stand still a year. It grows – it must grow; nothing can prevent it.